Getting to know you, getting to know all about you
by Alyson Trotter
Summary: COMPLETED: LBD SF Adventure: Lizzie joins Gigi and William Darcy in a day trip around the city. Who knew how much you could learn about a person just wandering the windy streets of San Francisco...
1. Lobster

"Come on Will, get in the picture."

"No."

Gigi lowered her camera and glared at Darcy.

"Come on. I promised my followers I would document my trip in the city today. I'll even let you take us to that hole in the wall Chinese food restaurant you're always trying to drag me to."

"I don't negotiate with little sisters."

Gigi sighed and turned back to Lizzie who was now playing with the lobsters she had been posing next to.

"What's that little lobster, who is that crab over there? Why that's a rare Mr. William Darcy. To catch one on film is a feat indeed."

Darcy glanced over at Lizzie with the same warm, exasperated smile she had thought he reserved just for Gigi.

"I don't negotiate with pretty girls either."

Lizzie felt his words hit her somewhere deep inside and warmth spread through her quickly. But that was nothing to the effect of the open, piercing stare he was giving her. She thought she had mastered her reaction to the looks he'd been directing toward all week. But then again, she hadn't expected glasses to make his stare so much more intense.

She was still determined to not be intimidated by Darcy, no matter how many times he unsettled her with his direct attentions. Her courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate her…or at least that's what she was telling herself as she looked from Darcy to Gigi.

"Alright Gigi let's get this photo, I want to see the seals." She refused to acknowledge the way her voice broke on the word alright and the fact that Darcy was now looking at her with a small, hopeful smile.


	2. Liar

"Are you actually going to document this entire trip on your Twitter feed?" asked Darcy, narrowing his eyes at his sister.

"Um, yeah. I am." She stared down at her phone, suddenly very interested in what one of her followers had said and refusing to meet her brother's stare.

Lizzie was looking out toward Treasure Island paying little attention to the sudden shift between the siblings.

"You've never documented an outing before this. Not your trip to Aspen or day trips with Fitz. Nothing about your time at school."

She could feel his intense stare. It was that weird father stare he had adopted at the ripe age of 16. She had to be strong for everyone and not give even an inch. This was for the good of her brother's happiness.

"Come on you should be happy! I'm embracing new media and documenting the world and all that."

"Yes, but the world is a little bigger than a weekend walk around San Francisco."

She sighed.

"Aren't you always in meetings about Twitter and crowd-sourcing photos? I'm taking a real interest in Pemberley Digital!"

Darcy slowed down a little. Shit. She had taken it too far. He knew she had never paid attention to the new business side of PD. It was about as absurd as asking Lizzie for help on her math.

"What are you—"

Lizzie cut in.

"Oh yeah, that Twitter thing. Has PD picked a photo platform to use? I know that Instagram photos not embedding on Twitter changed the approach."

As much as Darcy wanted to continue to grill his sister, it was still a rare occurrence for Lizzie to address him directly. He could see Gigi's shoulder relax a little. She should know better than to think he was going to let this go at that.


	3. Bushman

Lizzie hadn't really thought when she asked the question. Here she was, walking along the wharf with the CEO of the company she was basically an intern at and she was asking for the latest information on one of the company's new business ventures?

To be honest, it had just kind of popped out.

She was really happy it had.

Darcy was so relaxed talking about his work and never once leaned toward condescending. He was sharing ideas and speaking faster than she had ever heard him speak. But it wasn't the business that he focused on – it was the innovation. The creation of new forms of communication.

She had to stifle a laugh when she realized the irony of the situation. The most taciturn, private person she knew was practically obsessed with the methods that people use to interact.

There was no tactful way to ask about this contradiction and Lizzie was determined to not get in the way of the progress they had made. Even if he still refused to be in a photo with her.

She was looking up at Darcy when large bush jumped out in front of her.

She screamed loudly and jumped a foot to the left. She would have gone much farther if she hadn't ran into Darcy's side, her right hand clutching the opening of his leather jacket.

It was a bush. In the middle of the sidewalk. There was no other way to explain it. Then Lizzie noticed the man squatting behind what were actually two large branches disconnected from everything except his two hands. He was staring past them looking for his next target. The more she looked at him the less he looked like a bush and the more embarrassed she felt.

Gigi was doubled-over laughing, clutching the railing, and trying to hold up her shaking camera to record the whole thing.

Lizzie slowly realized how close she was to Darcy. His hand was grasping her shoulder from when she practically toppled them both over, but now it was resting there, his thumb twitching slightly as if keeping from rubbing circles around her shoulder.

She followed the line of his abdomen up to his chest and finally lifted her head to look him in the face.

He was staring down at her and there was an honest to god grin across his face.

She was gobsmacked. Not only did he have a very nice smile, but he was practically laughing at her.

She let go of his jacket and took a small step away. He brought him hand down along her arm and gave a small squeeze to her pinky finger before letting go.

"Don't worry, it's only the bushman." He stated as if this were the most reasonable and logical explanation in the world.

"Right. The Bushman."

"Lizzie, you should have seen your face! Thank god I recorded it because this is priceless." Gigi was already replaying the clip and shaking with giddiness.

"Wait, did you two plan this?" Lizzie looked from Gigi to her brother. Gigi just nodded and Darcy smiled with a small shrug.

"Will is obsessed with the Bushman," said Gigi. "He even did his thesis project on him. Honestly, aside from taking tourists here to see them get scared I have heard more than enough about the Bushman for a lifetime."

A thesis project? On a homeless man who scares people every day? Something about that felt weird to Lizzie. It smelled of exploitation. Especially coming from a guy who made god knows how much a year and was born without a single financial worry.

She was a little afraid to look at Darcy. The afternoon had been going so well.

"Sorry Gigi, but it's a fascinating story. Look at how simple this set up is."

Darcy had actually stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and gestured back at the Bushman.

"A crate, two branches and a man with an idea. He's appealing to the simplest, most base human response of fight or flight by exploiting the lack of awareness we have for our own surroundings. No one even stops to notice a bush in the middle of a concrete walkway until he makes you notice it. His dedication is astounding. He brings in $60,000 a year. And he has had to deal with several busker court cases to try and get rid of him and he's won all of them."

Gigi and Lizzie just stared at him. What the heck kind of thesis project was this?

"So you…studied his business model for your project?" asked Lizzie.

"No, he did this big multimedia project thing. Video and audio and interactive timelines. It actually ended up winning a few national awards."

Gigi was clearly proud of her big brother. He actually looked a little embarrassed by her bragging.

"Where did you go for grad school again?" Lizzie had just assumed he had his MBA. Isn't that what CEOs of major companies did? Practically everyone who ran a company in San Francisco or Silicon Valley was touting a Stanford MBA. Unless they dropped out in undergrad and were an actual genius.

"I went to Berkeley School of Journalism."

Lizzie was thrown. Journalism? What happened to the numbers bot?

"But I thought…didn't you study business?" She tried not to look as thrown as she actually was.

"I did, for undergrad. I was at the Haas School of Business per my family's desire. But, then things changed."

Darcy looked on edge. It was like he understood just how precarious this whole day was. She could tell how much he wanted to keep things going smoothly. Talking about families was always dangerous ground for the two of them.

"Oh, well that's amazing. I've heard what a fantastic program they have." She smiled, letting him off the hook for now.

His shoulders relaxed and he started to walk alongside her again.

"It was."

He smiled down at her. Who knew Will was full of so many surprises?


	4. Ice Cream

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I know the chapter lengths are a little inconsistent, but…here is a longer one! I'm thinking there are at least three more chapters to this story. Hopefully I can get them up this week, but work is making that very difficult!

Okay. Lizzie had thought a lot about Darcy's quip that the hills in San Francisco could be "quite unforgiving." It had stuck with her. It may have even entered a strange dream a few days after the incident.

And yes, the hills were something, but no one had mentioned how far away everything was. There was so much she wanted to see and she felt bad dragging her tour guides all over a city they had practically grown up in. She couldn't help, but be aware that this was for her benefit. They had a story for just about every street they walked down. No part of the city was safe from Darcy and Fitz's dorky high school antics or Gigi's artistic eye.

There was only one thing she had promised herself she would do while she was here. Just a quick picture with a certain statue about an hours walk from where they were currently sitting. But she couldn't make Gigi and Darcy walk all the way to the Presidio for one little picture. Then again, she wasn't sure when she would have another chance to visit this part of the city. She only had two more weeks here and between Gigi and Pemberley Digital it was packed. But it was only one picture. One really cool picture.

"Hey Lizzie. Lizzzzzie." Gigi tapped Lizzie on the shoulder.

"Oh, oh my gosh I'm so sorry," Lizzie stammered. "I completely spaced out."

"Don't worry about it. You really don't need to know the details of my 5th grade field trip to the wharf. A bird pooped on me. That's really the only point of sharing it."

Lizzie laughed and bit into her ice cream cone, thankful that Gigi was so easy-going. She wasn't sure what she would have done without her here.

Not that she would be here without Gigi. After all, Gigi was the one who planned it. It's not like her brother was the one who took her out to see the city.

They were sitting in Ghirardelli Square enjoying some seriously delicious ice cream despite the fact that it was much colder here than Lizzie was used to. The breeze coming off the bay was not exactly summer weather, but dark chocolate ice cream in a chocolate dipped cone was impossible to pass up.

Darcy walked over to their table with a large scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream in a plain white cup. Before Lizzie had a chance to say anything, his sister was berating him.

"What is the point of ice cream if you don't get it in a cone?"

He looked at the cup for a second.

"Well, for one you don't get messy."

Lizzie was reminded of his Twitter tag and rolled her eyes a little, "I like things to be well-ordered." Typical. Wait. How the hell did she remember that?

"And this way I'm not rushing to finish my ice cream before it melts all over. I can sit and watch the city without having to stare at the cone the whole time."

Lizzie was suddenly aware she was chasing a large drop of melted chocolate ice cream down the side of her cone. She paused for a second before realizing how completely undignified she looked with her head leaning down to catch the wayward chocolate.

"Also I have a theory that the people that work there give you more because the cup looks so sad."

Lizzie looked over at his cup and compared it to her cone.

"You totally got more ice cream than me!" She shouted indignantly.

"Do you want some?" He offered his spoon out to her and she just stared at it. He raised his eye brows, daring her to take a bite. Off of his spoon.

Okay those new glasses of his were seriously dangerous. Lizzie felt herself about to lean in when Gigi interrupted.

"God you can be such a weirdo Will."

Darcy took back his spoon and went back to eating his ice cream with a pleased little smile. He looked at Lizzie from the corner of his eye.

"What?" Lizzie asked. "Is there ice cream on my face?"

"No, no. It's just not often that I get to render you speechless. I have to enjoy those rare moments."

Lizzie thought back to the moment when Darcy came into the office in costume theater dress. That same self-satisfied look.

Okay so that look combined with the glasses was way too dangerous. She was going to have to keep her wits about her for the rest of the day if she was going to avoid doing something stupid. Being caught off-guard wasn't usually an issue. She just needed to step up her game.

"Alright, Lizzie. We have Lombard street a couple blocks away. We can take Muni up to Golden Gate Park. Ooh or we could stop by Fillmore Street! There are all sorts of cool independent store and thrift shops in the area."

Those all sounded fun and she really didn't want to drag Gigi somewhere she had no interest in going.

"Uh. Well actually. I've wanted to check out the Presidio. But I don't want to make you guys walk more than you already have so if you want I can just head over there and meet up with you both later?"

Gigi and Darcy both just stared at her.

"It's like another hour of walking and then walking back and really I just want to check out this one dumb little statue. It's not even a big deal. I could even grab a cab and I'll for sure be back in time for dinner. I won't even get lost on Muni or anything."

Okay she was starting to sound a little loony and her ice cream was about to topple out of her cone.

"Lizzie, that's totally fine. We can walk over to the Presidio. It's beautiful and it's really not that bad of a walk," said Gigi.

"Yeah, but what about Fitz? Gigi, I know you're supposed to meet him for dinner in a couple hours. I don't want to make you late."

Gigi looked completely torn. Lizzie was not expecting that strong of a reaction. Really she had just thrown it out there as an excuse. Oh god. She really hoped that Gigi wasn't crushing on Fitz. She had to know that that ship was going nowhere, right?

"We can just have Fitz pick us up from the Presidio and we can figure out dinner from there," said Darcy, finishing up his ice cream. He looked over at Gigi who still seemed to be dealing with some sort of inner turmoil.

"Great!" she managed.

Lizzie stifled a groan. Okay. So the picture she wanted was super dorky. It wasn't about the distance. She just wanted a little bit of privacy when she went and got it. Now she was going to be dragging Darcy and Gigi on a wild goose chase. She really wasn't even sure where the statue was…The Presidio couldn't be that big. Right?

Gigi began texting Fitz the new plan.

"The Tiger and the Eagle will be joining us for dinner. I repeat, operation 'Dinner Ditch' is a no go."

Well it looks like her and Fitz were going to have their work cut out for them after all.


	5. Presidio

The Presidio was beautiful.

Lizzie knew she would be happy if she could walk there every weekend with a fresh cup of coffee and a good book. The Golden Gate Bridge loomed in the distance. The wide expanse of grassy Crissy Field. The bridged spanned the clear sky above the park where families were having picnics and chasing kites. A group of sisters were trying to coordinate handstands for a silly picture.

Lizzie felt a pang in her chest at the sight. She hadn't seen her sisters in so long and right then she felt an overwhelming urge to take a ridiculous photo with both Jane and Lydia. It had been a month since she had really spoken to either of them and she was surprised by just how much she missed them.

Gigi, Lizzie and Darcy turned at the field and began walking toward a large lagoon. As they got nearer the sight nearly took Lizzie's breath away.

The lagoon was flanked by a structure that looked so classical that it must have slipped out of a different time and place. As they got closer the city seemed to shrink away.

At the center of the structure was a rotunda that stretched ten stories high with a domed roof so heavy that each support was actually two columns. It was as if they had been paired up to make their job more pleasant, a friend for support with the task at hand.

A row of Corinthian columns spanned from either side of the rotunda. Trees and bushes filled the spaces along the walking path.

Their footsteps echoed as they strolled under the dome. It felt like they had entered a cathedral even though the space was completely exposed to the natural elements.

"So, was this worth the walk?" murmured Darcy.

She liked that he did that. That he spoke softly while they walked here. She had been afraid to speak because she was sure that normal voices would break the magical spell. But Darcy didn't feel the need to dominate the space with his voice and the magic spell was preserved. He was comfortable and respectful and at ease. It was kind of sexy.

Sexy in a historical, nerdy kind of way.

Lizzie had to be careful. She might be romanticizing the situation a bit.

She smiled back at him.

"Yes. Very worth it. It's beautiful."

He gestured at the walls around them.

"It's called the Palace of Fine Arts. It's actually an exhibition space for all sorts of performances and music and art. It's been here since the early 1900s," Darcy said. "Gigi can tell you all about the friezes at the top of the rotunda."

He looked over at his sister and raised his eyebrow. He knew how much she loved to talk about allegories in murals. If she wanted to play the set-up game with him she was going to have to suffer a little and decide what was more important.

He had severely underestimated her dedication to the task at hand.

"Actually, it's getting kind of late. We should probably just keep walking toward…where are we going again?" she turned to Lizzie who looked flustered.

"Lizzie, come on. We're here. Out with it!" Gigi's voice echoed.

Lizzie sighed. She would have begged to go solo again, but she was positive she didn't know where she was supposed to go next. The Presidio had become a giant green blob on her map app. According to Google and her 3G it was a giant green park which was clearly false.

"Fine. Do you know where the Letterman Digital Arts Center is?" Lizzie asked.

For a moment Gigi looked disappointed.

"Really? I mean – oh really! Uh I mean, it must be somewhere around here if it's in the Presidio. Hm…" she tapped her finger to her chin and she caught her brother's eye over Lizzie's shoulder. His looks of exasperation would have given any teenage eye-roll a run for its money.

"Why don't we split up and canvass the area," she said.

"Let me guess, you're going to go that way?" Darcy pointed at one end of the rotunda. "And we're going to go that way."

He pointed at the opposite end of the rotunda.

"It worked in Scooby Doo, didn't it?" Gigi said.

Neither Lizzie nor Darcy had a chance to respond to her logic before she smiled at them both and turned on spot. She was almost jogging toward the park in the distance.

Lizzie was still processing what happened and so it wasn't until Darcy cleared his throat that she realized they were alone. In the city. Under a rotunda. About 30 yards away from three different couples getting their wedding photos taken. With swans.


	6. Yoda

Sure she'd been alone with Darcy a hand full of times at Pemberly Digital. But those situations always had an out if they became awkward. She could always go back to work or use the restroom or…actually work on her thesis.

However this time there was no out. She was at the mercy of Darcy's navigational skills if she wanted to get to Letterman Digital Arts Center, let alone home. Gigi had to get some sort of sick enjoyment out of trapping her brother and Lizzie in awkward situations.

"So," Lizzie began. "Do you have any idea which direction the Letterman Digital Arts Center is?"

Darcy looked over her shoulder as if he were avoiding her eyes.

"Yes. It's right around that corner. Maybe 500 feet from where we're standing. I know _exactly_ where it is."

_As does Gigi_.

The unspoken sentence hung between them. They were very in danger of entering awkward territory.

He looked at her apologetically. As if she had no idea what it meant to be embarrassed by her family. His words about her parents and sisters at Colins & Colins resurfaced. Now certainly wasn't the time to dwell on the past, but Lizzie couldn't help but think of the irony of the situation. This small reminder that the Darcy's were in fact human bolstered her confidence.

"Well, I guess we better go that way then," she said.

He was still uncomfortable with their situation, but knew he had to enjoy the short time he had left with Lizzie. Who knew if he'd ever have the chance to wander a city with her again. Despite how well the day was going, he couldn't imagine Lizzie wanting to make a routine out of it.

He finally met her eyes with a wistful smile.

"Yes, I suppose we better."

Lizzie was wracking her brain for conversation topics, secure in the knowledge that it was up to here to keep things light. She was surprised when Darcy began speaking with ease, much greater ease than he actually felt.

"So the Letterman Digital Arts Center," he said. "Why didn't you just tell us you wanted a photo with Yoda."

She could hear the smile in his voice, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. After all, she wasn't really in the mood to be mocked for her choice of city sights. She had given him and Gigi plenty of opportunities to let her go on her own. Perhaps Darcy wasn't as quick on the uptake as his sister.

"How do you know that's what I want?" she said lightly.

"No one calls it the Letterman Digital Arts Center. They usually just call it LucasFilms or 'the place with the Yoda statue'."

The jig was up. She sighed loudly and found herself on the defensive.

"I don't know, maybe because Star Wars is a hallmark of American pop culture and I happen to be one of those people who likes pop culture. I mean, I know it's not on par with allegorical friezes or historical shipping yards, but it's something I like," she said.

They walked in silence as Darcy tried to find the right tone for what he said next.

"Lizzie...need I remind you that I purposefully walked you into the path of a man disguised as a bush?"

She wasn't going to forget that anytime soon.

"Yes, I do remember that. Very well. Thank you again for scaring the crap out of me."

He wasn't sure if she had understood what he meant. He tried again.

"I - I don't hate popular culture. I firmly believe that pop culture and "high culture" are not mutually exclusive," He was forming his sentences carefully and Lizzie was reminded of his letter. He had already told her once how difficult it was for him to express himself, but he continued anyway.

"Many of the greatest historical works began as the pop culture of their time. That's why those stories managed to survive to today. Shakespeare could very well have been the George Lucas or Steven Spielberg of his time the way his plays were received by the public," Darcy said. "Not to mention, 'Star Wars' shares plot points and themes with 'Hamlet'. Perhaps calling 'Star Wars' a pop culture hallmark is not giving it enough credit. Maybe if we look closely at what is considered elitist or low-brow we would find that the distinction is based on what has been arbitrarily deemed accessible based on an unfair public education system or the socio-economic insulation of certain academic ivory towers."

"You wanted to be Jedi when you were younger, didn't you?" said Lizzie

As always, Darcy was impressed by Lizzie's ability to extract his main point from his murky monologue. He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially.

"Most boys wanted to be Han Solo, not a Jedi."

She felt that increasingly familiar swoop as his eyes lit up on to hers. Her chest tightened and she felt her self blushing like a ten year old with her first crush. Clearly Darcy as Han Solo was an image Lizzie was going to have to save for later. Among other things.

Lizzie cleared her throat and tried to relax

"It's not just about 'Star Wars'. Getting the picture with the statue I mean," said Lizzie. "What I really want is to get a picture of it for my dad."

"Is he a big fan himself?" asked Darcy.

"Well he's a big movie fan in general. And he's also a TV fan and a book fan. He just...he loves stories. And he's the one who made me love storytelling. 'Star Wars' was one of the first movies we watched together," she said. "I mean it wasn't the first movie we ever watched together. But one of my favorite memories is watching the original VHS tapes on our old ugly couch in the basement. Watching together on a Saturday afternoon was our ritual."

"He sounds like a pretty great dad," said Darcy.

Lizzie smiled. It was hard being so far away from her family. Even if they were only 45 min. away by plane and less than 30 sec. away by cellphone. At that moment she remembered that the Darcys had lost their father when they were very young. She couldn't imagine not having her dad around today, even with the amazing memories she cherished from her childhood.

"I just think he'll get a kick out of this statue picture. I've been traveling so much for shadowing that it would be a nice surprise for him."

They walked along the side of one of the adobe buildings. The Presidio had once been an army base and these buildings had served as The Post Office. Today the space had been renovated and gated in with fancy wrought iron all around the perimeter.

Lizzie followed Darcy's lead as they walked around the corner at the end of the alleyway. There is was, a majestic metal Yoda standing on a pedestal above a flowing fountain.

It was behind a gate.

The same wrought iron gate that surrounded the rest of the area.

Lizzie's heart dropped. She had pictured getting closer than this. Yoda was going to be a small speck if she had to take the photo from here.

She didn't even attempt to mask her disappointment.

"Just a moment," said Darcy before walking to the gate and pressing a small call button. Lizzie was trying to get a halfway decent photo from where she was currently standing when Darcy made his way back. He grabbed her hand and smiled.

"Meet Yoda, we must."

Darcy made an honest to god joke and Lizzie was sure that meant hell was experiencing its first glacier.

A security guard opened the gate and let them in. Apparently this was the perk of exploring the city with a Darcy. It was hard to complain about perks like this.

She couldn't hold back her smile as they walked into the gated area. She smiled even harder as she watch him realize that he was holding her hand and he reluctantly let go.

"Full-disclosure, this area is open to the public. Anyone can come in if they just speak with the guard," admitted Darcy.

The guard snorted behind them.

"What's wrong with you boy? When you are out with a pretty girl like this you can't go around admitting stuff like that! How else are you supposed to win the heart of such a woman?"

Darcy was unable to find the proper words and finally the security guard rolled his eyes and gave them some space. Not before giving a knowing wink to Lizzie.

Lizzie took a few photos of the statue and then Darcy took a few of her getting as close as she could. He laughed when she posed with a fake light saber. He waved away her offer to get his own photo with Yoda.

The security guard rolled his eyes and muttered something about youths.

Darcy returned Lizzie's phone to her and was pointing toward the museum at the on the other end of the Presidio when they heard the electronic click of a camera phone.

"You guys found it!" Gigi yelped, bobbing up from behind the fence She spoke a mile a minute trying to distract from the fact that she was sneaking around taking photos of the two of them.

Gigi ignored their looks of disbelief. She knew that they admired her ballsy match-making efforts deep down. Deep, deep down.

And hey, even if they were on to her it's not like they were even remotely close to wanting to kill each other anymore. That was an improvement in Gigi's book. They had to start somewhere.

At that moment Gigi was saved by the arrival of her trusty co-wingman.

"Alright, who is ready to eat?" asked Fitz.

Gigi smiled, safe for now.


	7. Hi!

"So, where to?" asked Fitz, slinging an arm around Gigi's shoulder.

"Well earlier Gigi mentioned House of Nanking—" Darcy started before Gigi interrupted him.

"No I did not! I said you probably were going to try and drag us there tonight. That is so not the same thing as mentioning it as an actual option."

Darcy smiled.

"What I believed you said was, and correct me if I'm wrong: if I let you take a picture of me you would let me take you to that hole in the wall Chinese food restaurant I'm always trying to drag you to," he looked down at her phone. "If I'm not mistaken there is an almost stalkerish photo of me on your phone right now. A deal is a deal."

Gigi was not one to go down without a fight.

But she was one to conveniently forget that there was already a stalkerish photo of her brother and Lizzie floating around on Twitter.

"I believe the condition was that you had to pose with Lizzie like a real tourist. This alleged photo," she said, gesturing wildly with her phone. "Does not count."

Darcy looked at Lizzie.

"Do you trust me?"

She wasn't sure how to respond to that so she crossed her arms and raised her eye brow at him.

"Do you trust my restaurant choice enough to take a photo with me?"

"I thought you didn't negotiate with little sisters?"

"I don't. But I might be adjusting my opinion on other types of negotiation."

She couldn't help but smile at that. Teasing, flirty Darcy wasn't so bad at saying what he meant. Perhaps there was hope for him yet.

"I suppose I don't have any reason to distrust your restaurant choice."

Gigi groaned.

"But that place is so dark and cramped. It's not at all roma—"

Fitz jabbed her arm with his elbow.

"Alright kids. I am starving. If I have to drive all the way to Chinatown for some grub, I'd appreciate this whole word association game thing coming to an end."

Gigi rolled her eyes and rubbed her arm where he had elbowed her.

"Fine. But I still need to get my photo. Get together you two," she sing-songed.

Lizzie and Darcy awkwardly leaned toward one another.

"Okay," she sighed. "At least look like you want to take this photo. I don't want my followers to think I kidnapped you both."

Lizzie raised her hand in a mock wave.

"Hi!" she said.

Darcy raised his eyebrow, daring Gigi to push him to do more.

At this point Gigi wanted the dumb picture to get her phone to stop buzzing. People had been tweeting her all day asking why her brother wasn't in any photos. The whole day was turning into more of a chore than she had anticipated.

And okay, she was really not happy with the House of Nanking decision. She was going to have to cancel their reservations at the St. Francis and all because she had promised the world a photo of Lizzie and Darcy.

She couldn't be that mad. But still. Nanking was no candle lit dinner at a 1900s luxury hotel.

They walked over to the car and Fitz clicked a button to unlock the car doors, spinning the keys around his finger.

Lizzie couldn't help but notice Darcy's pleased smile.

"You're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?" said Lizzie.

"Yes, I am. I get to introduce you to one of the city's best, worst kept secrets and I didn't even have to pose with a lobster."

Darcy opened the passenger side door for Lizzie, but Gigi was already there, sliding into the front seat.

"Aw, why thank you brother!"

"Excuse me, but I was going to offer the front seat to our guest."

"Oh Lizzie is fine with it. She knows that I get car sick, what with all the hills and everything. So unforgiving."

"You have never been car sick—"

He was cut off by Fitz's giggling and the slamming of the front door.

He rolled his eyes and opened the back door, gesturing for Lizzie in a jokingly courtly manner. She half bowed, half curtsied and slid into the back seat.


	8. Dinner

"So, how did today go?" asked Fitz so quietly that only Gigi could hear him. He downshifted and looked back at Lizzie and Darcy in the rear view mirror.

Gigi wasn't sure how to answer. She thumbed through the photos on her phone.

"I think it's going well. Lizzie is a little hard to read, but she hasn't strangled Will yet so I feel like we're making progress."

Fitz glanced at her. That didn't sound great considering the progress they thought they'd been making with the Tiger and Eagle.

"I'm pretty sure they passed the strangulation phase a couple weeks ago."

Gigi wasn't ready to assume anything. Sure Lizzie's emotions were easy to read sometimes, but Gigi also knew she was stubborn. Gigi was confident that Lizzie was finally seeing the real Will, but she didn't know if it would be enough to actually change her opinion.

"I don't know Fitz. They're both just so...cautious around each other. It's impossible to know how either of them feel at this point."

Lizzie and Darcy probably would have been fine sitting in companionable silence in the back of the car if it hadn't been for the frantic mutterings of Fitz and Gigi up front. It was fairly obvious that they were not being included in the converstion for a reason. Lizzie looked over at Darcy who was staring hard at his hands clasped together in his lap. He chuckled lightly when Fitz said something about the Eagles majestic migration.

Lizzie wasn't one to sit around being talked about. At least not when she couldn't hear what exactly was being said.

"What are you two conspiring about?" asked Lizzie.

"Uh - uh, I was just telling Fitz how hilarious it was when you saw the Bushman and screamed bloody murder," said Gigi quickly.

"Wait, what? Of all the things you could do, you guys took her to see the Bushman!?" asked Fitz in disbelief.

Gigi glared at him.

"I mean – yeah Gigi was totally telling me all about the Bushman."

Gigi could see her brother cover his face with his hand, shaking his head. Okay so she and Fitz had a few communication problems to work out still. They were working on it. Fitz refused to let go of the Bushman thing.

"Could you not have done something a little more _impressive_," Fitz said, raising his eyebrows at Darcy in the mirror.

While Fitz hadn't been the greatest wingman in the past, he would at least have managed to avoid that tourist stop. Scaring the shit out of the person you were supposedly in love with was not a wise move. Fitz may or may not have known from experience.

Lizzie felt an inexplicable need to defend the Bushman.

"It was actually good," said Lizzie. "It was nice to see something so uniquely San Francisco. It said a lot about the city."

Okay. That wasn't exactly what she meant. Maybe Darcy's inability to express himself was starting to rub off on her.

"What I mean to say is it made me look at the city in a different light. It was…it was very enlightening."

She hoped that the car was getting dark enough that no one could see the color rising in her cheeks. She hoped it wasn't too obvious that she wasn't really talking about the city. Sure the Bushman incident didn't seem like that big of a deal to Fitz. But it meant something to her. It meant something to her perception of Darcy.

They had been getting along better the past week, but Lizzie had still been holding Darcy at a distance. It wasn't until that conversation after the Bushman that she realized how debilitating that distance had been, or how many preconceived notions she had developed.

More than anything, it had made her realize how little she knew about Darcy.

Not that she was about to try to explain that to anyone. She was still trying to figure out what it all meant in her own head. If only her red face wasn't so determined to betray her.

"Okay well I'm glad that your run-in didn't tarnish your perception of the city – or its citizens," this time Fitz frowned at Gigi.

As they got closer to Chinatown, the streets began to feel more urban. The buildings were much taller, the store fronts were crammed tighter and the air was dense with louds honks. Lizzie leaned back into her seat enjoying the sights and sounds of the city she had grown to love.

"Oh! Parking spot!" yelled Gigi, pointing at an empty spot on the other side of the street.

Fitz performed what was likely a highly illegal turn in the middle of the street. Everyone in the car was sent careening to the right side of the vehicle. Lizzie grabbed the back of Gigi's chair and Darcy's arm flew across Lizzie's abdomen to keep her from slamming into the door.

Fitz righted the car and expertly parallel parked before Lizzie was able to absorb what had happened. Darcy had already removed his arm, but she could feel where his arm had been like she had been burned.

"Smooth move Fitz," muttered Darcy.

Darcy's arm had been so surprising and weirdly reassuring. Lizzie found herself missing the pressure when it went away as quickly as it had appeared. God, what had got into her?

Lizzie composed herself, perfectly okay with the incident passing without any mention by either her or Darcy. But she then she saw that he hand landed in midway in the seat between them. Before she even realized what she was doing, she reached out and lightly touched his forearm.

"Hey, thanks," she said as lightly as she could. She didn't want to make a thing out of it, but she also was sick of letting things pass without any acknolwedgment. Communication was key.

Darcy wasn't sure how to react, but he managed to compose a smile before Lizzie stepped out of the card and joined Gigi and Fitz outside. The group crossed the darkening street. The sun had begun to set and lights were flickering on in the windows of the apartment buildings,

There was a line outside the restaurant. A red velvet rope kept the crowd out front in an organized line against the brick façade.

"Don't let the rope lure you into thinking we're treating you to a fancy dinner," muttered Gigi. "They don't even take reservations."

They got in the back of the the line behind four or five other parties. Lizzie peered through the restaurant window. Not that there was much to look at. Two smallish rooms packed to the brim with people in metal chairs. The walls were sparse to say the least. It certainly wasn't what Lizzie had been expecting.

But the real surprise was that they were somewhere where they had to wait. Outside. In the cold.

The sun was setting behind the buildings and they were waiting in that weird twilight where the temperature dropped 25 degrees in a matter of minutes.

Darcy noticed Lizzie tighten her arms across her chest.

He had been so excited about of his choice of restaurant that he hadn't considered the wait outside. He began unbuttoning his jacket when Fitz turned to Lizzie.

"Hey LA girl, you okay over there? You need to borrow my jacket until we get inside?" Darcy wasn't sure whether to laugh at the irony or punch Fitz in the arm.

Lizzie shook her head and smiled. She assured Fitz that she could handle the cold like a big girl. Darcy couldn't tell if she was being polite or stubbornly independent. Either way he could practically see her knees knocking. This was absurd. But he couldn't offer his jacket now.

He couldn't help but think that Fitz was unconsciously sabotaging any chance he had with Lizzie. Sure, that was dramatic, but dramatic times called for blaming dramatic wing men who threw wrenches into everything.

He knew he could still give her his jacket, insist that she take it, but he still wasn't confident in navigating what Lizzie wanted. He assumed he was going to make a fool of himself. It was something he was still working on, however slowly.

Instead he subtly stepped between Lizzie and the windy street. He stood much closer now, but he hoped that he was at least blocking some of the wind without being too obvious.

Lizzie noticed.

She wasn't sure if he had done it on purpose, but she was grateful all the same. She leaned in to him ever so slightly as if to say thank you, just in case. It was completely involuntary. It was as if their bodies were developing a sort of rhythm while their verbal communciation struggled to catch up.

Gigi continued to fill Fitz in on their adventure, although she had kept him pretty much up to date with a constant stream of texts while it had been happening.

He played dumbed pretty well until he let it slip that he didn't "get" people who ate ice cream out of the cup. Gigi tried to cover for him by pretending to have lost her contact only to find it in the corner of her eye 20 seconds later.

Finally they were ushered into the restaurant. Lizzie ended up at the front of the group, bumping between crowded tables as she tried to keep up with the light-footed hostess. They were seated at a table in the corner near the window. It was actually a long table half of which was already occupied by a loud of family of six\.

Lizzie had barely sat down, with Darcy next to here and Gigi and Fitz across from them, when their hostess handed them each a menu. She had about 30 seconds to study it before it was snatched back out of her hands. Darcy was holding up four fingers and was practically shouting to be heard over the din of the family next to them.

Lizzie stared at the departing hostess in confusion. Her hand was reaching out to take the menu back, but the hostess was already gone.

She tried to remember if she had ordered without realizing it. No.. No. She definitely had not ordered anything. Lizzie had a thing about picking out her food. She liked to do it.

"Sorry, I probably should have warned you. The food is sort of set here. The menus are more for appearances, a formality," Darcy said.

"How can food be 'sort of' set," she asked warily. No. She did not like the sound of that.

"You tell them how many people are in your party and they order for you. Apparently it's the charm of the place," said Fitz, forming air quotes with his hands.

"Come on Fitz, don't tell me you haven't tried some delicious new dishes here."

"Yeah, I've also had some mystery food that I still can't quite figure out."

"We've gone over this. They were mushrooms."

"No, you just want you to think that they were mushrooms."

Darcy looked over at Lizzie who looked far from convinced.

"Remember how I asked if you trusted my choice of restaurants?"

She nodded

"Well, try and trust me just a little longer. Please?"

Lizzie realized just how closely they were sitting. Darcy had to lean in so she could hear him over the din of the room. His warm breath brushed on her cheek.

At that moment she trusted him more than she ever had before. She knew it was just pheromones and not rational judgment. But where had rational judgment got her in the past?

It certainly had never landed her at a strange restaurant in an amazing city next to a surprisingly charming agoraphobic lobster with incredibly hot glasses.

It also hadn't allowed her to admit anything like that, even if it was just to herself.

"Okay," she said softly. Her voice surprised her with how open it sounded. The pheromones were definitely talking.


	9. Dinner part 2

It was impossible for her to meet Darcy's eyes. He was too close and she felt herself losing her footing in the moment. It was terrifying how quickly her courage left her. This feeling of cowardice was new and unusual.

Facing the real Darcy meant throwing away all the default opinions and reactions she had developed. Now she was left with…she had no idea what. It was as if she had lost complete control of the situation.

It was terrifying.

Lizzie turned back to the table where Fitz was watching Gigi's phone while Gigi loooked over his shoulder.

She could feel Darcy's lingering stare before he sat back at his full height.

_"I_ _swear, every time I'm in a room with that man, he stares at me, _ _constantly_ _. It's like I'm a traffic accident and he just can't look away."_

She can't help but laugh as she remembers the naivety of that early video. Oh past Lizzie, if only it were that simple.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Fitz who laughed so loudly at the video of the Bushman that the family next to them had stopped to stare.

"Oh Lizzie B, you just about took out Will with that arm flailing. Remind me to never take you to a haunted house."

Fitz handed the phone back to Gigi wiping an actual tear from his eye. Lizzie was positive the video was not _that_ funny.

"Well at least I would expect someone to jump out at me at a haunted house," she said. "This was more like an ambush."

Gigi was busy texting.

"Yes, and you were a very good sport," said Gigi. "We would never have done it if we didn't think you could take a joke."

Lizzie's phone buzzed in her purse and she saw a small still of the Bushman video flash on her home screen next to Gigi's cellphone number. Oh good, a souvenir for the day. Ten bucks the video was already on Twitter and Tumblr and YouTube.

Well, that is what she signed up for. And what she had signed everyone else in her life up for, apparently.

Karma was a bitch.

Lizzie heard a buzz from inside Darcy's leather jacket. Great. It was going viral already.

Before she had a chance to fish her phone out of her bag, their food arrived. There were huge, steaming plates of sesame chicken and mushu pork followed by a platter of stuffed mushrooms, pot stickers and large tureen of hot & sour soup.

Lizzie was practically salivating as they placed the sesame chicken in front of her. All of the walking and the cold had left her much hungrier than she had realized. They piled their plates high with eyes much larger than their stomachs.

The mushu pork was so good that she let out a small moan after her first bite.

Darcy paused at the sound. His fork floated halfway between his mouth and his plate before he realized how odd it probably looked. He shoved the forkful into his mouth. There was no need to draw attention to the fact that he was so affected by Lizzie moaning over food.

He stared at his plate, too self-conscious to look up and see that Fitz or Gigi had noticed.

Lizzie however was far too engrossed in her meal to notice. She couldn't tell if it was because the food was so good or if she was just incredibly hungry. Either way she smiled and gestured at the food with her fork.

"Okay. I will allow this place to order for me and only this place. This is delicious."

Darcy was glad that his choice was met with approval. Gigi had planned most of the day with the intention of hitting main tourist locations with minimal opportunities for Darcy to do something dumb. Gigi's words, not his.

This meant he still hadn't shown Lizzie his version of the city. The day had gone perfectly okay, but this dinner made him slightly more confident that he might be able to take Lizzie out on his own. One day. Eventually. Maybe.

The cramped table set-up was the only thing slowing Lizzie down. Correction, the tightness between the chairs was the only thing slowing Lizzie down. As she satiated her initial hunger pains, Lizzie was once again hyper-aware of Darcy sitting right next to her. It was far more distracting than she liked to admit.

It was like they were sitting down on her bench to tape one of her videos, but without the camera or whatever weird set of circumstances had led them there in the first place.

Lizzie took the chance to assess him without the pressure of performing on camera. For once she wasn't concerned with her body language and how thousands of anonymous viewers would interpret it. There wasn't that fear that everything they said and did was fodder for the internet.

More importantly she was able to see how she felt sitting there next to him. She was trying to honest with herself for once. She felt surprisingly calm. And comfortable. She was overall content with the events of the past 24 hours. It was amazing how long she had refused to even acknowledge that as an option.

Everyone was so concerned with their food that the table was unusually quiet aside from the scrape of serving spoon.

Darcy's left arm would brush alongside her right arm every once in a while. Apparently he was left-handed, but he had mastered how to eat next to a right handed person. There was none of that awkward elbowing that normally ensued.

It was such a small detail, but Lizzie found herself diligently collecting these kinds of facts. They were facts she planned to take back with her as she tried to reconstruct her version of Darcy.

She had no idea if it was possible, but she was determined to try.

Twenty minutes later the group was groaning from too much food eaten too quickly. Their bill arrived and Lizzie opened her wallet to get her debit card.

Darcy was already handing his card over to their waitress.

"No," she said emphatically. "Seriously I can't let you pay for me. I already monopolized your entire day."

To be honest Lizzie was never comfortable with anyone paying for her, especially so with guys. She was all for chivalry, but she had developed a strong distaste for that feeling of owing someone because they offered to pay for something. Yes it was another example of her sometimes cynical and distrusting nature. But she had experiences to back her up.

Even with her family's situation she had always been determined to pay her share of everything. Strangely enough the one time it hadn't been an issue was with Wickham. She wasn't sure if that counted as a red flag or not…

"Hey Lizzie, don't even worry about it. We have an agreement," said Fitz, nodding toward Darcy.

"Yes and that agreement is that you cheat at poker," said Darcy. Fitz ignored him and continued.

"Don't worry Lizzie, I'll just take your share out of what Darcy owes me. It's my treat," he said, winking at Lizzie.

Darcy rolled his eyes as he took the receipt from the waitress and began calculating the tip. Fitz. Taking credit for the first, and possibly only, meal that Darcy was going to take Lizzie out for. World's. Worst. Wingman.

Lizzie knew she was fighting a losing battle and the fact that Darcy was treating the entire table made her feel a little better. To be honest she felt so warm and full that didn't have the will to fight it anymore. She was entering a lovely little food coma.

She smiled lightly as she watched Darcy sign his name in a large, loopy scrawl. He was so methodical the way he formed the wide loping W in William and the large round D in Darcy. He was probably holding his pen with just the right amount of strength and lightness. It was nothing like the chicken scratch Lizzie produced during 8 a.m. lectures.

He caught her staring.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Nothing. You just have very nice penmanship."

It was such an odd compliment that Darcy wasn't sure how to react. Lizzie didn't seem to mind. She smiled and turned away from him as she fished her phone out of her purse.

Darcy looked down at his signature. Was he ever going to be able to figure out Lizzie Bennet?


	10. Fortune

They left the restaurant with a pile of Styrofoam take-out boxes and a bag of fortune cookies.

According to Gigi, fortune cookies were the only way that Will could make it up to her for ruining her dinner plans. He had left the table and returned minutes later with a comically large bag.

"Touché brother, touché."

They decided to walk around the block to settle their stomachs. Gigi was busy opening the cookies and reading the fortunes out loud.

"'You have a friendly heart and are well admired.'"

"That's not a fortune. That's a statement," said Darcy.

"Okay, fine," said Gigi as she opened another cookie. "'Emulate what you respect in your friends."

"Well technically that's advice."

Gigi glared at her brother.

"Well how about, 'Watch what you say to your beloved sister if you have any plans of getting a ride back home.'"

"A fortune, yes. But I'm not sure it would fit inside a cookie."

"Haha very funny. Who wants to eat the cookie?"

"I thought you did. Wasn't that he point?" asked Fitz gesturing to the bag.

"I only wanted the fortunes," Gigi shoved the broken cookie into Fitz's hand before opening another.

Gigi continued to pass around the cookies as she read the fortunes aloud. Lizzie wasn't able to stomach another bite so she ended up carrying half a dozen broken cookies around the block.

By the time they reached the car Gigi was carrying a bag of cookie crumbs. They all had coat pockets filled with stock fortunes, advice and observations.

It had been a nice after dinner walk, but Lizzie suddenly felt exhausted. She fell into her seat and shut the door to escape the cold. The car felt so warm and her seat was so comfortable as she sunk down into the soft leather.

Darcy opened his door and Gigi slipped a broken cookie into her brother's hand before jumping into the passenger seat.

He stared at the cookie for a moment before sliding in. Once seated he unfolded the paper which read: "Now is the time to go ahead and pursue that love interest!"

He crumbled the fortune in his hand before anyone could ask him to read it aloud. Gigi meant well, but he also thought she had done enough for one day. Besides, Darcy had already pursued "that love interest." He had already had his answer straight from the source. For now he was set on making amends and hopefully the foundation for a friendship…or something.

Alas, the fortune could not be unread. The thought burrowed deep in his mind. Darcy looked over at Lizzie. Her head was nodding along to the movement of the car, her eyes looked heavy like she could fall asleep right there in the back of Fitz car.

"Alright, where to next my friends?" asked Fitz, turning back toward the center of the city.

"Actually Fitz, I think it might be time to call it a night," said Darcy.

"It's Saturday night Darcy. I think you may have forgotten that you are not in fact a 40-year-old man."

"Sorry Fitz. No bar hopping for me."

Lizzie looked over at him gratefully. At least she wasn't going to be the party pooper.

"Yeah I'm beat. And my apartment is just another block over so I might have to call it a night too," said Lizzie, stifling a yawn.

"Yeah. For once I agree. I'm wiped," said Gigi stretching her arms out in front of her. "Rain check on karaoke?"

Lizzie nodded, already dreaming of the warm bed waiting for her at home.

"Oh and Lizzie, please take those leftovers. I don't think I can look at another bite of Mushu pork," said Gigi. "I refuse to take it home."

Lizzie laughed and tried to offer the boxes to Darcy and Fitz, but they both refused. Darcy saw an opportunity to, if not pursue that love interest, to at least make one last ditch effort to leave an impression. He knew Gigi would be impressed when he offered to help Lizzie carry the leftovers to her apartment.

There really wasn't that much food, but Lizzie wasn't a fool. When she said yes, Gigi flashed a discreet thumbs up at him in the side mirror.

Darcy's phone began to buzz. Bing's name flashed on the screen and Darcy pressed cancel. He would call him back as soon as they dropped Lizzie off. The phone buzzed again and Darcy silenced it. On the third ring Darcy gave in and answered the phone.

"Yes?" he murmured, turning away from Lizzie.

Darcy could barely hear Bing. There was a bass pounding in the background. Glasses were clinking and Darcy was pretty sure Bing was slurring his words.

"I can't – I can't hear you," said Darcy a little louder. Bing said something about Jane, he sounded depressed and drunk. It was a rare combination, but Darcy had seen it before. It wasn't pretty.

"Can you go outside or something?" he was half-shouting at this point. He had covered his ear trying to focus on what Bing was saying.

Fitz had already arrived at Lizzie building and they sat there awkwardly for a moment. It sounded like Darcy wasn't going to be off the phone soon.

Gigi finally turned in her seat.

"Hey," she said. "Why don't I help you carry the food up."

Lizzie couldn't help, but feel disappointed. It wasn't like this was a date. She didn't need to be walked to the door, but still…

"No, I'm fine. Really. Thank you so much for today. I had an amazing time."

"Of course! I had a great time too. And I'll go ahead and speak for my brother and said he did too."

Fitz cleared his throat.

"And I'm sure Fitz had an excellent time as well."

Lizzie looked over at Darcy who was so focused on Bing that he hadn't realized the car had stopped.

"Tell your brother thank you when he gets off the phone."

Lizzie opened her door and grabbed the boxes of food. She looked over at Darcy one last time before closing the door.

Darcy wasn't aware of what was happening until the door slammed shut. He looked up and saw Lizzie's empty seat. She walked past his window and up the small staircase to the front door as Bing continued to mumble in Darcy's ear.

Goddammit he thought.


	11. Goodbyes

Darcy stared at Lizzie's closed front door. He could still hear Bing on the other end of the phone trying to get the attention of the bartender before the phone went dead.

He stuffed it back in his pocket and rubbed his face in frustration.

So this is how the day was going to end. Not with a bang, but with the least graceful of good-byes – no goodbye.

Fitz slowly pulled away from the curb. Neither he nor Gigi said anything to Darcy. Gigi watched his disappointed face in her side mirror.

Darcy knew that nothing was going to happen tonight. This was still him and Lizzie, not to mention the fact that his sister and friend would have been glued to the car windows. He doubted she would have asked him in to her apartment even with the excuse of putting the food in the fridge. And what parting words would he have left her with on the front porch? If anything it would have been a final chance for him to say something stupid.

But he couldn't shake a sudden strong desire to wish her goodnight.

Between Bing and Fitz he was beginning to question his choice in best friends. Not really. But a little. Just a bit.

Inside the apartment Lizzie was also disappointed. Not that she had any idea how she wanted the evening to end, but it all felt unexpectedly…off. She thought she had heard Bing's voice through the phone which left a bitter taste in her mouth and a feeling that she had betrayed Jane.

Here she was having an amazing time in the city while Jane was living in Los Angeles with a broken heart. Even if that hadn't been Bing, that voice had been enough to remind her of the reality of her situation. Reality was what she had managed to avoid all day. For one day she had been existing in a bubble, isolated from all her other troubles.

It was like she had been living in a controlled lab experiment. For once she had convinced herself that all that mattered was what she thought of Darcy independent of everything that had happened. As if he had just been a guy she had met at a coffee shop and flirted with over who would get the last croissant.

But that wasn't the truth. That wasn't what was really going on.

They were responsible for their past actions to each other, their past actions to others. There was still so much baggage that they were both carrying around. Lizzie sat down on Prof. Gardner's leather couch, too tired to put the food away in the fridge.

She took out her phone and scrolled through the missed emails and texts she had received throughout the day. It looked like Charlotte had sent a text for every one of Gigi's tweets. Jane had sent photos of a few sample pieces she was saving for Lizzie.

The apartment felt so empty all of a sudden.

Lizzie continued to ignore Gigi's text with the Bushman video. She didn't feel like watching herself acting like an idiot right now.

Charlotte's texts took a little longer to decipher. They were mostly emojis and question marks and more emojis.

She slowly made her way through the texts until she reached the first one Charlotte had sent that morning. Lizzie sat up straight. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounded I her chest. She had no idea what the text was in reference to.

"! LIZZIE BENNET ARE YOU EYE SEXING DARCY?"

She started to text back, but waiting for an explanation would take too long. Instead she opened her Twitter app and went to Gigi's feed, scrolling to the start of their trip earlier that morning.

How had she missed that photo.

She was totally eye sexing Darcy. Or at least eye foreplay-ing. Lizzie knew the exact moment that photo had been taken. It was before she had her morning coffee and Darcy had sat down next to her in those damn glasses. It wasn't her fault she had been taken by surprise.

Lizzie scrolled up through the feed. There was nothing else too incriminating, but her body was still tense with adrenaline. As long as she had already been publicly photographed, she figured it was time to finally face the video.

It wasn't anywhere on Gigi's feed…but there wasn't anywhere else it could be. Lizzie prayed that for once Gigi had shown some discretion, but why?

Lizzie opened the video in Gigi's text hoping to find the answer there.

What she saw was video Lizzie and video Darcy strolling along the wharf looking strangely couple like. Then she saw video Lizzie practically leap into the arms of video Darcy. He was holding her up, her arm entwined in his leather jacket.

He held her a little longer than was necessary. Not that she looked all that bothered in the video.

There was definitely a reason this wasn't on the internet.

Lizzie replayed it. Her cheeks colored as she realized Darcy had the same video waiting on his phone.

She played it again.

She studied his face.

The adoration on his part, the openness of her own. It was a strangely perfect moment of uninhibitedness.

It was a reminder that she didn't hate Darcy even a little bit anymore. It was everything else in her life that was making the situation so complicated.

Lizzie decided to have a little more faith in what she felt. She needed to rely less on analyzing and understanding every little thing that happened. The day may not have ended the way she had hoped, but she wasn't a victim of the cosmos.

She logged back into Twitter and composed a short message.

" wmdarcy Thank you and Gigi for an awesome day."

Somewhere across town an all too rare text alert went off. Darcy lifted his head out of his hands and read the words twice, three times. He replied.

" TheLizzieBennet Our pleasure."

It was all his heart could manage after such a day. He hoped that for once his words wouldn't betray him – that he had said exactly what he meant.


End file.
